Friday, 29 August 2008

Please, don't post at my page comments with personal insults to other persons that have posted comments, also. There is a clear difference between criticizing and insulting and I will reject comments with personal insults.

Wednesday, 27 August 2008

“The story of a missing four-year-old French girl took a grisly turn today when Israeli police revealed their suspicions that the child had been murdered by her mother and grandfather, who were in a romantic relationship (...)”

"In the light of articles in some UK Sunday newspapers this weekend, we feel it is appropriate to comment briefly on our relationship with the investigation company Oakley International.""We appointed them several months ago to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. We continue to work with them to this end. The working relationship is managed by Brian Kennedy, who also confirms the relationship with Oakley International continues to be good and that it remains entirely focused on the search for Madeleine."

Saturday, 23 August 2008

On January 2008, according to the investigation files from the DVD given to journalists, the PJ detective Ricardo Paiva received a dossier from British police and sent it to Paulo Rebelo, the head of the investigation of Madeleine's disappearance, with an internal communication.

The dossier's first document is an email from Stuart Prior, of Leicestershire Constabulary, with several files attached: MS Word documents with witnesses statements and a PowerPoint (PP) file. Inserted in the PowerPoint file, among other things, there was the sketch of the face of what was called before “The bundleman”, the faceless man' sketch based on Jane Tanner description. The email was sent to Ricardo Paiva and to another Leicestershire police officer, Michael Graham.

Stuart Prior asked Ricardo Paiva, in the mentioned email dated from January 16, 2008 (14:55), to get back to him as soon as possible, with instructions from Paulo Rebelo concerning the action to be taken, about the content of the dossier.

The PowerPoint file, as the Leicestershire police officer explained, was completed by the Mccann and the witnesses statements were taken by UK Police. The second document in the dossier is a short message, also by email, from Gerry McCann to Stuart Prior, dated from January 16, 2008 (13:15), with the subject “sketch”:

“Stuart

As discussed.

Gerry”

The email sent by Stuart Prior explained that, in the attached documents, Jane Tanner's description was taken from the Press and also from the summary of her statement. The witnesses statements attached to the email were from Gail Cooper, Paul Gordon and Trudy Dawkin. There were also files with “tanner description” and a “Summary of second statement of Jane Tanner”. Stuart Prior referred six specific questions, to be answered by Paulo Rebelo, and wrote that there was some urgency around those questions, as it was necessary to take decisions prior to the Gail Cooper artist impression appeared in the UK Press.

Another reason given by Stuart Prior for the urgency was the fact that he needed to get back to Gerry McCann because he asked to be updated about how Paulo Rebelo wanted the new lead investigation to be conducted. Stuart Prior wanted to know what kind of information could be provide to the McCann – who, as he wrote in the email, were very excited by the potential lead revealed in the PowerPoint file and in the enclosed witnesses statements.

A “point of power?”

The PowerPoint completed by the McCann has a title: “Finding Madeleine McCann – Aged 4”. Then, page after page, it has short references about the main points of several witness statement: Gail Cooper phrases about the a male she saw on April 20, 2007, while holidaying in a a villa near apartment A5, who is described as sallow skinned, scruffy, speaking broken English and claiming he was collecting money for an Orphanage in Espiche.

Alfred Schuurmans is another witness mentioned, in the PowerPoint file. He his head of Roscoe Foundation and Brian Kennedy spoke to him on January13, 2008. Alfred Schuurmans confirmed to Brian Kennedy that there are no Orphanages in Espiche or surrounding areas, and no collections were made, as this was illegal in Portugal.

Next page refers to Melissa Little, a qualified police sketch artist who spent many hours with Jane Tanner and Gail Cooper, to produce the sketches. Melissa, according to the PowerPoint file completed by the McCann, stated that there were many similarities between Jane Tanner's man and Gail's description.

On page 13 of the PP file, there is an “Action Plan”, with three points, to launch a worldwide search of the man pictured in the sketch. The last of the 14 pages of PP file has the sketch that Clarence Mitchell would show to the Media, during a Press Conference, on January 20, 2008. Following 11 pages have the transcriptions of witnesses statements, collected by British police.

Brief update to Gerry McCann

Ricardo Paiva replied to the January 16 email of Stuart, on the same day, at 17:52, on behalf of Paulo Rebelo, asking Leicestershire police to re-interview several witnesses and question other persons who were referred for the first time in his message and attached files. On January 17, several emails were exchanged between the two police officers, with details about specific actions and requests, most of them related with witnesses interviews and contacts.

Stuart Prior emailed Ricardo Paiva again on January 18, 2008 (18:57) to send more witnesses statements, in attachment, and inform the PJ Inspector that a brief update was given to Gerry McCann, as discussed between him and Ricardo Paiva. Stuart Prior also refers that he told Gerry McCann there were descriptions different from those of Gail Cooper and Jane Tanner, and evidence that several charity collectors have been “working” in the Ocean Club area, before Madeleine being taken, according to other witnesses.

The Leicestershire Detective Superintendent informed Ricardo Paiva that the sketch based on Gail Cooper description was likely to hit the Media over the weekend (19/20 January, 2008) – making clear that Leicestershire Constabulary was not involved in that in any way at all.

And just the day after Clarence Mitchell called the Media to released two sketches of a man the McCann “believe may have abducted the four-year-old”, one of the nannies from Ocean Club, Charlote Pennington, told the Daily Mail she saw Robert Murat talking “to a man who resembled the 'oddball' in the new sketch released by the McCanns”, outside the Batista supermarket. According to the January 21, 2008 edition of the Daily Mail, “Clarence Mitchell said the Madeleine McCann information hotline had been inundated with calls, saying the response had already been 'very encouraging'. Gerry McCann wrote on his blog: 'It is essential that he be traced. We believe many people must know who this individual is. We appeal to anyone who knows him or may have seen him to contact our private investigators. This man may have key information that will help us locate Madeleine."

It is not the same Clarence Mitchell, spokesperson of the McCann family, right? Just a coincidence of names, I'm sure. Could be another Clarence Mitchell, the owner of this company...

NOTE 1: AFTER PUBLISHING THIS POST, I WAS INFORMED THIS COMPANY HAS NOTHING TO SEE WITH MR. CLARENCE MITCHELL, SPOKESPERSON FOR THE McCANN FAMILY. MY APOLOGIES, IF THIS CAUSED ANY INCONVENIENCE TO THE ABOVE MENTIONED COMPANY.

NOTE 2:I BLOCKED COMMENTS IN THIS POST. AS IT WAS JUST A COINCIDENCE OF NAMES, I POSTED A NOTE WITH MY APOLOGIES TO THE ABOVE MENTIONED COMPANY. I'M AWARE THAT I MADE A MISTAKE, POSTING THE REFERENCE, BEFORE CHECKING IT PROPERLY.

On January 2008, according to the investigation files from the DVD given to journalists, a police officer from Leicestershire Constabulary (Graham Michael) spoke with Charlotte Pennington (a former nanny from Ocean Club) in UK. She told that she had no additional information to give and confirmed the statement she had made to PJ, while still in Portugal.

Charlotte Pennington also said that she spoke to a British private investigator, Noel Hogan, working on behalf of Metodo 3. She assured Graham Michael that she only relayed to Noel Hogan the same information she gave to Polícia Judiciária, in Portugal, and to Leicestershire Police, on August 2007.

(*) In 1846 there was a popular rising “Revolta da Maria da Fonte”, against several laws issued by the government of Cabral. The situation was so bad that led to a stage of effective Civil War known as the ‘Patuleia’ that would only finish with the foreign intervention of British and Spanish troops in 1847. Finally, in 1851 Marshal Saldanha after a military insurrection brought the much needed stability after 40 governments since 1834 .This new period became known as ‘Regeneração’.

The spokesperson of the McCannfamily gave a statement, as a witness (under oath...) to Leicestershire Police, on April 28, 2008. Mr. Clarence Mitchell explained he met Gerry McCann on 2007, late May, when Madeleine's father went back to UK for the first time after his daughter disappeared.

According to Mr. Mitchell, it was a circumstantial(1) meeting at the Leicestershire Police, while he was working at the Consular Assistance Groupfrom the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Clarence Mitchell told Leicestershire Police, in his statement, that he was asked to go back to Portugal with Mr. Gerry McCann, where he met his wife, Kate McCann.

Later, as he said, he developed a good professional and personal relationship with the family. In the same statement, Mr. Mitchell reveals that he went to Portugal on May 22, 2007 (the meeting at Leicestershire Police, with Gerry McCann was on May 21, 2007) and remain there until the middle of June. After his return to UK, he kept in daily touch with the family and met them 2 or 3 times a week.

As he started on his new job, he justified his decision to quit MMU andmade clear what he thought about the decision of the Portuguese Police and Public Prosecution Servicesto name the McCann as “arguidos” or formal suspects: "I have done so simply because I feel so strongly that they are the innocent victims of a heinous crime that I am prepared to forgo my career in government service to assist them (...)I will simply be representing Katie and Gerry as a private individual, one who believes utterly that they are innocent of any involvement in the disappearance, let alone the death, of their daughter, Madeleine."

Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis

(1) Gerry McCann left Faro Airport on May 20, 2007, on a late flight. He arrived at Coventry Airport on the early hours of May 21. The Media was informed that the trip was related with personal matters and also for meetings with organizers of the Find Madeleine Fund. He met Clarence Mitchell at Leicestershire Constabulary's headquarters, andwent to Rothley where he visited the Madeleine's improvised shrine, set up at the war memorial in the village centre. Daily Mail wrote thatGerry meeting with Leicestershire Constabulary was intended to see how they were coordinating their inquiries, as they were the police force in charge of cooperating with the Portuguese police. On May 22, Clarence Mitchell and Gerry McCann flew back to Algarve.

My help had been asked, by these colleagues, because, besides the fact that they did not speak French, they did not know Brussels, did not know where and to towards whom to turn to investigate the case of the witness who claimed to have seen Madeleine.

As it the custom amongst professional colleagues, I have met with these journalists and I've helped in everything that has been possible for me. As is obvious, we have talked about the Madeleine McCann case, about the information published recently in my blog and in the blog of my colleague Paulo Reis, we exchanged our impressions and comments. I will not reproduce the comments of my English colleagues, because private conversations are private conversations - at least, for principled people.

So that it is clear: I have not, in my possession, no part (evidence) that would be of interest to the authorities or could concern the investigation of a crime.

Sunday, 17 August 2008

Gordon Brown has visited a police station in Leicester to see first hand how the police are tackling crime. Accompanied by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, the PM travelled to the Beaumont Leys police station in the north west of the city. During a tour of the station Mr Brown discussed neighbourhood policing and engagement with local residents and police officers. Following the visit the PM and the Home Secretary attended a Citizens Jury on the subject of crime at the Walkers.

I'm flattered with the attention given to my blog, in the last days, from people that clearly have an almost religious belief concerning the McCann case. This is a space were different opinions and views are accepted, as I believe in Freedom of Speech and Press Freedom. Just keep your comments within the limits of the Law, as I do with my posts. And don't waste your time threatening me, either in comments (that I don't publish, obviously) or through emails. You know my face (it's on the upper right corner of this page) you know my full name (click in the link "Editor"), you know I live near Lisbon, in Alcochete. Come, and meet me, face to face, instead of barking behind anonymous messages.

The young son of a player from Dinamo Zagreb (from Croatia) was almost snatched from her mother by a group of British tourists, who thought he was Madeleine McCann, according to the sports Spanish newspaper Marca. The blonde boy, Leone Drpic, son of Dinamo Zagreb football player Dino Drpic, two and a half years old, was with his mother in the island of Krk, when a British woman started to chat with the child.

Nives Drpic, the footballer's wife, didn't pay much attention because she is a well known fashion model and is used to having people talking and taking pictures of her and her son, anywhere they go. But then, the British woman grabbed the boy by his arm and tried to take him with her. She ran and stopped the British tourist who, after that, realised it was a mistake, and admitted the two and half years old boy was not Madeleine McCann, who was four years old when she disappeared, on May 2007.

Saturday, 16 August 2008

(...)"I never thought for one second that she'd walked out. I knew someone had been in the apartment because of the way it had been left. But I knew she wouldn't walk out anyway. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in my mind she'd been taken.' Kate says she saw that Madeleine's toy Cuddle Cat had been left behind, but was careful not to touch it in case it held a clue to who took her. She says: "I knew straight away a crime had been committed, we had no doubt about that. We were very conscious of not touching things."(...)

The PR expert who advised Madeleine's parents in the first weeks of her disappearance offers a new insight into their state of mind

(...)“Alex Woofall, a public relations consultant for the holiday resort where the child disappeared, was with the McCanns regularly for that first fortnight and is convinced that they are innocent. 'That they could be involved and in any way be guilty - to me they would have to win every Golden Globe and every Oscar ever awarded,' he told The Times.”(...)“One bone of contention has been whether Mrs McCann, when raising the alarm that Madeleine was missing, screamed: 'They’ve taken her.' Some have questioned why a mother would leap to the conclusion that a child had been abducted. Mr Woofall says that he heard no suggestion in the early days that the girl had been snatched. 'Certainly I did not hear any discussion that this could be a paedophile or an aggravated robbery. All the time I was around it was whether she could have wandered off and had an accident or somebody had actually taken her in, perhaps not with ill-intent.

'During the first 48 hours the word being used was ‘missing’ rather than ‘abducted’ or any link with a paedophile or any sort of crime. Towards the end of the second week I detected a shift towards there being a consciousness that she had probably been taken rather than wandered off, just on the assumption that anybody would have found her by now.”(...)

By DAVID JONESLast updated at 00:36 08 Setembro 2007(...)“My own gnawing doubts about the conventional theories began on my first visit to Portugal. I am a reporter, not a detective, but some things just didn't seem right.First, there was the resort itself. Expecting to find a bustling town where it would be easy for a childsnatcher to mingle with the crowd while watching his target, and make off without arousing suspicion, I found instead an almost deserted, out-of-season place. A risky setting for a kidnap, however well-planned.Then there was the McCanns' apartment. Although it stood at least 75 yards from the tapas bar where the family's party dined, and was completely obscured by a high wall topped with bougainvillea, its location would have presented considerable problems to a would-be abductor.”(...)“The sliding window at the rear faces an alley used as a main thoroughfare for those staying in the apartment blocks, while the front door and windows open on to a frequently used car-park, beyond which runs a well-lit main road.How on Earth, I have often wondered, did someone walk in, gather Madeleine up in his arms and make off with her without being seen, or waking her twin brother and sister sleeping either side of her? And surely the little girl must have stirred. The neighbouring apartments were occupied. Why was nothing heard or seen?”(...)“And, whether we like it or not, the possible involvement of Kate and Gerry McCann should have been rigorously investigated at the very beginning of the inquiry - as it would have been in Britain, where routine procedure dictates that those closest to the victim are scrutinised and eliminated first.”(...)

Thursday, 14 August 2008

On October 19, 2007, Alberto Carbas, the head of the Spanish CID Anti-Kidnapping Unit (Unidad de Secuestros de la Policia Judicial) contacted PJ and asked detectives in charge of Madeleine's investigation it they were willing to have a meeting with a representative from Metodo 3 and a Spanish police officer from the same unit.

The purpose of the meeting was to give PJ some information those detectives had. The Spanish police officer made clear that Metodo 3 had no intention to interfere in the Portuguese police work, but only to transmit some useful information. In the same contact, Metodo 3 said that they were not working for the Mccann, but for Brian Kennedy.

On November 13, 2007, the meeting took place, in Portimão. Two PJ detectives – Ricardo Paiva and Paulo Ferreira. - the director of Metodo 3, Mr. Francisco Marco, an adviser from the private detectives company, Mr. António Jimenez (former head of Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit from Catalonia) and Mr. Brian Kennedy participated in the meeting.

The two PJ detectives submitted a report, about the meeting, the information exchanged and the investigations, following the leads given by Metodo 3.

On the report, which is in the DVD files, it's referred that Mr. Kennedy stressed, just as the meeting started, that his only intent was a charitable one, because he was concerned with cases related with child neglect and missing children. He stated that his concern, in that specific case, was only the truth and nothing more than the truth, no matter the McCann, their friends or any other person was involved or suspect.

The man hiding in shadows

The director of Metodo 3 gave PJ a written report with three situations, allegedly received through their hotline and related with Madeleine's disappearance The first was about an incident that British Media already referred, at the end of October 2007: a woman who was babysitting at Ocean Club, in apartment 5A, on August/September 2006, spotted a man “hiding in shadows” on a Thursday – the same day Madeleine, four, vanished”, as The Sun wrote on October 31.”

“The nanny – identified only as M.H. – reported the chilling incident to police in England shortly after the hunt for Madeleine began in May, but did not speak to cops in Portugal.”, according to the newspaper. Clarence Mitchell added: “This evidence backs up what we have always said, that Maddie was taken from her bed by an abductor.”

PJ dismissed this report, as detectives considered that there was no evidence it was related with the disappearance of Madeleine.

The second information was about the alleged existence of a paedophile picture in a computer at the home of Sergei Malinka, witnessed by the fiancée of a British girl, four years ago, when he was at Malinka's home. The girl's fiancée questioned Malinka about that and he said the computer belonged to a client and he would report it to the authorities, later, according to the same witness.

All computers found at Malinka's home were apprehended and searched, but nothing relevant or suspect was found, the PJ report says.

Murat's girlfriend seen with Madeleine

The third information referred to a witness detailed sighting of what was described, in the report from Metodo 3, as a woman handing what that witness was convinced was a child, wrapped in a blanket or a sheet, to a man, over a fence, with two cars parked close to them, near a city 100 miles from Algarve. The witness, a Portuguese truck driver, M.G., saw several pictures and picked up Michaela Walczuch photo, saying that it was the most similar to the woman he saw.

British Press also got the story, on November 19, 2007, but with different details. “A witness is said to have spotted Mr Murat's German-born girlfriend Michaela Walczuch in a car with Maddie in central Portugal on May 5”, wrote Metro. The Daily Mail had a similar story, the same day: “A new witness has identified Michaela Walczuch as a woman seen with the missing girl in central Portugal about 100 miles from where she disappeared on May 3, a source said.”

PJ investigated this last incident, and questioned the Portuguese truck driver. But the facts he reported to Police were a little bit different: He saw the woman handing something to the man, over the fence, wrapped in what seemed to be a blanket. It was not heavy, because they did it easily and the fence was around 1,60 meters high. Asked if it could be the body of a child, he said that nothing of what he saw could point to that.

Questioned also about the positive identification of Michaela Walczuch, according to Metodo 3 report, the witness told PJ that he couldn't see the face of the woman, as he was driving his truck, at 70/80 km per hour, and the couple was at a good distance. He only picked up Michaela's picture from the other pictures that Metodo 3 showed him, because it had the same hair colour and a similar body build.

Najoua Chekaya arrived in Portugal on March 2007, recruited in England to work for Mark Warner, according to her statement to PJ, on May 2007. Just a curiosity, the translator was Robert Murat. She described her daily working routine, as an aerobics instructor and said that when she arrived at Ocean Club, she was asked also to perform a “Quiz Game”, at night (09:00 pm), on Tapas Bar, twice a week – every Sunday and Tuesday.

On May 1, 2007, after the “Quiz” was finished, Najoua was invited by Gerry McCann to sit at their table, to have a drink. She was there for 15/20 minutes, between 9.30 and 9:50 pm. There was just casual talk and she didn't know if Madeleine's mother was at the table or not.

During that period of time, nobody left the table, but there was an empty chair. Who had been sitting at that chair, Najoua didn't know.

The French site “Enfants kidnappés” (Kidnapped Children) announced today they will publish “all details from the (investigation) files (...)” Today, they published a 'facsimile' from Madeleine McCann passport and next they will publish police reports, witness statements, the facts, time lines, “everything that is on the (investigation) files. Without adding or taking out a comma.”

A friend of the McCanns said: 'The hunt for Madeleine is becoming more and more international and it was felt that a truly international firm was now needed to lead the inquiry. These really are the big boys. They are absolutely the best, but they are extremely secretive and cloak-and-dagger about what they do. 'Since their appointment, Metodo has very much taken a back seat and they are now concentrating primarily in Portugal and Spain and across the Straits of Gibraltar into north Africa, where they have their main contacts (...)”

Hummm... “Big boys”? “Extremely secretive and cloak-and-dagger about what they do”? “They are now concentrating primarily in Portugal and Spain and across the Straits of Gibraltar into north Africa (...)”?

I wonder who the “big boys” have instructions to chase and if they know that private investigations of a crime, in Portugal, it's illegal and is considered also crime, as Mr. Clarence Mitchell (*) once said?

“Spanish detective agency was hired was because of Portugal’s 'language and cultural connection' with Spain. 'If we’d had big-booted Brits or, God forbid, Americans, we’d have had doors slammed in our face, and it’s quite likely we could have been charged with hindering the investigation, as technically it’s illegal in Portugal to undertake a secondary investigation,' (Clarence) Mitchell explains. 'But because it’s Metodo 3, [Alipio] Ribeiro [national director of Portugal’s Policia Judiciara] is turning a blind eye'. Portuguese police are reported to dismiss M-3 as 'small fry”.

The Spanish edition of “The Truth of the Lie” will be published in the first week of September. The same week, the former PJ detective will be interviewed by two Spanish TV channels, “Antena 3” (September 1) and Telecinco (September 8). Contacts for an English edition (probably including also an USA edition) continue and are expected to result in a deal, very soon.

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

A tourist that was at the Tapas Bar, on the night of May 3, took several pictures where the table with the McCann and their friends is visible. The tourist was with his wife and another couple and they took pictures from each other, with the McCann table on the background.

The owner of the pictures is negotiating with several British newspapers to sell the rights for an exclusive publication, but with a condition: before being published, the pictures must be sent to the Portuguese police. The tourist is well aware that the pictures may have important evidence related with a crime and not sending it to police is considered also a crime, in his country.

Yesterday, a well known legal office from UK knew about the existence of those pictures and contacted the owner, offering to buy all pictures for 600,000 Euros. But the British lawyers didn't accept the condition set by the owner – that the pictures should be sent to the Portuguese police, just before the transaction. The lawyers' office wanted to be free to choose the moment when the pictures would be send to Portuguese authorities, so the offer was refused by the tourist.

Mr. Pinto Balsemão is also the owner of SIC, one of the three TV Portuguese channels and weekly “Expresso”, the leading Portuguese weekly newspaper. “Expresso” has been the most violent critic of Mr. Amaral. Just a coincidence, as we don't believe the Editor, Mr. Henrique Monteiro, and Martin Cabral, one of the columnists, can be influenced by anyone. They are journalists, above all.

My Google Mail account is “dead”. I have a message (in Portuguese) that says “you account has problems. You can not use it while those problems exist, but don't worry, all data and messages of your account are safe. Our engineers are trying to solve the problem. Try to access your account within a few minutes" - 10:28 pm, August 11, 2008

Monday, 11 August 2008

“THIS is the first picture of the Tapas 7 seen together at a beach bar just hours before Maddie was snatched. They were captured on CCTV having drinks before making the 10-minute walk to the restaurant where they met the McCann. The digital time on the film is 5.59pm - about the time Gerry and Kate were picking Maddie up from kids club to get her ready for bed", wrote "The News of The World", on August 10, 2008.

Not very accurate, this time line and description of events. The seven friends didn't go from Paraíso beach bar to meet the McCann in Tapas bar. This is a brief description (*) of the hours between 4:30/5:00 pm up to 8:00 pm, May 3:

1 – The seven friends and children went to the beach, on the afternoon of May 3, at different hours and later, all together, went to Paraíso beach bar,;

2 – They asked food for the children and it was around 5:30 pm when the food arrived;

3 – The men (David, Matthew and Russell) left around 5:55/6:20 pm (1), to go to the tennis court (2), because there was a “men’s social tennis round” that night;

4 – The wives stayed in the Paraíso Bar, because they had asked for ice creams for the kids and the men were late for the “men’s social tennis round” scheduled to start at 6:00 pm;

5 – When the three men arrived at the tennis court, Gerry was there, already, playing;

6 - Kate had been at the tennis court, with Gerry, after 3:30 pm, but she left around 4:30 pm and went jogging on the beach (3). Gerry stayed in the courts, playing with Julian;

7 – The nannies took the children (including the three McCann children) to have “high tea” near the Tapas bar, around 5:00 pm;

8 – Kate finished jogging (5:20/5:30 pm) and met Gerry, who was already with Madeleine, Sean and Amelie near the Tapas Bar. They took the kids,together, to the apartment and Gerry went back to tennis;

9 – Around 6:10/6:15 pm, all the women left Paraíso with the kids and went to the tennis court to see the men playing. They stayed there for some undisclosed time and went to their apartments, around 6:45/7:20 pm;

10 – Gerry asked David Payne (4), around 6:30 pm, to look in on Kate, to see if she needed help to take the kids to the playing area, near Tapas bar;

11 – David knocked at the A5 apartment (4). Kate had just finished having a bath and David saw that the kids were already bathed and were in their pyjamas (5) playing around;

12 – Kate told David the kids were very tired, so they were not going to the playing area (6);

13 – David Payne got his tennis kit and went to the court. He arrived around 7:00 pm and the four men (Gerry, David, Matthew and Russell) started to play, but after a short time Gerry decided he had had enough tennis and went to the apartment. He was replaced by Dan, a tennis coach from Ocean Club;

14 – The three men played until almost 8:00 pm and they went back to their apartments, to get ready for dinner, as the table was reserved for 8:30 pm (7).

Notes:

(1) Matthew said they left Paraíso at 6:20 pm. Russell said the three men left around 6:00 pm. David also stated 6:00 pm. Fiona said it was 5:55/6:00 pm, when the three men left.

(2) Russell said that he and Matthew went straight to the courts. Matthew said he went to the apartment to get his tennis gear and Russell did the same. David said the other two men went to the apartments and he went to meet Gerry, who was already playing, at the courts.

(3) According to Russell, while the group was at the beach, before going to Paraíso beach bar, they saw Kate doing her jogging near the seaside, at around 5:15/5:20 pm. They didn't talk, some people from the group that was at the beach just waved to Kate. Russell said that David went to his own apartment and also – he believes – to the McCann apartment. Briefly, David came back and joined them, there was Dan with two or three more guests and they played for more than one hour, until 8:00 pm, Russell said. Gerry went back to the apartment a short time before the three men, according to Russell. Dan, the tennis coach, also left earlier.

(4) – It was Gerry who asked him to check on Kate and the kids, Payne told Police. According to Kate, David knocked at the door (the door facing the swimming pool). She just put a towel around her, went to the living room and they had a brief talk. David said he thinks the French doors were open and he went inside the apartment. The kids were there, playing around, and the conversation with Kate was short. David Payne confirmed this was the last time he saw Madeleine.

(5) About the kids, David Payne said they were all dressed in their pyjamas, looked like angels, just at the beginning of his statement to British Police. 41 minutes later, when asked what everybody was wearing, he said he could only remember that the kids were dressed in white. He could not remember what Kate McCann was wearing.

(6) The conversation with Kate was short: 3 to 5 minutes, David Payne said.

(7) According to Fiona Payne, David came back from tennis at 7:10 pm, still in time to help give the children a bath . Diana Webster said her son-in-law helped to bath the children, around 7:10 pm. Matthew Oldfield said that the three men (he, Russell and David) played up to 8:00 pm. Rachael told police that Gerry left at 7:20 pm to help Kate put the children in bed. Russell also said the he, David and Matthew played for almost one hour, close to 8:00 pm and they left the tennis court together.

(*) These details were obtained by cross-referencing information from statements given to Portuguese and British police by the McCann couple, their seven friends and Kate's personal notes. Large time gaps, in some situations, are due to the different times given by the persons questioned.

Sunday, 10 August 2008

Mr. Smith, the Irish witness that saw a man carrying a child on the night of May 3, was contacted by Brian Kennedy who asked him to take part in a photo fit exercise, but he refused. On a second statement to Irish police, he said that the particular way as Mr. Gerry McCann turned his head down, when leaving the plane, on his arrival in UK, was similar to what the man he saw on the night of May 3 did. Mr. Smith said he was 60/80 % sure that it was Gerald McCann the man he saw carrying a child. Mr. Smith was considered a genuine person, who is known locally and is a very decent person, was the comment of the Garda police officer that questioned him, on January 2008.

Tracing mobile phone calls

A British CID officer, on holidays near Praia da Luz, was warned by his superiors, after PJ intercepted phone conversations between him and Robert Murat, already an arguido, concerning technical details to trace mobile phones location. The CID officer justified the contacts because he was at Pensão Salsalito, owned by Murat's uncle. They knew he was a policeman, so asked him help about some general information concerning tracing mobile phone calls. Murat wanted to know if police would be able to locate with precision his mobile phone calls, on the night of May 3, as he used it, that night and he believed it could prove that he was at home, with his mother, when Madeleine vanished.

Gerry's fury

When GNR arrived, Gerry McCann walked to them, kneeled down and put both his hands in the ground, in the same position as a Muslim praying, and shouted twice, with rage in his voice, saying something that the witnesses close to them could not understand.

Toscano lies

Antonio Toscano, the alleged expert in child abduction and investigative journalist, was questioned by PJ, on May 27, 2007. Toscano gave dozens of interviews to British and Portuguese newspapers, claiming he knew Madeleine was kidnapped by a paedophile ring, by request, and he knew the man who was behind it. Questioned by PJ, he said that he received a tip from an informer, Frederico, who told him that a Frenchman called Bernard Alapetite, was responsible for the kidnapping. He said also that he could not guarantee Madeleine was with that man, but he believed Bernard Alapetite had the profile to perpetrate acts like that. Toscano said he knew Bernard Alapetite when he managed to be accepted as a member of a paedophile ring, acting as a “mole”, in his work as an investigative journalist.

Pictures of Madeleine

The printer used for the pictures of Madeleine belonged to a British member of the staff of Ocean Club. She brought it from her room to the reception. The pictures were printed using a memory card given to her by Russel O'Brien, around midnight. PJ wanted to check the printer, but she said that her boyfriend took it with him,to France. Anyway, experts from the PJ Laboratory considered that it was almost impossible to get a specific "fingerprint" from the pictures produced by that kind of printers.

On April 2008, Mr. Paulo Rebelo gave a detailed response to the McCann friends, about their arguments and doubts concerning the reenactment of events from May 3. He made clear that one of the conditions stated – that Gerry and Kate "arguido" statute should be lifted, before – was not possible to be fulfilled, as it was a Public Prosecutor's legal power, not PJ.

About the reenactment, the main problem of the Tapas group was clear: either PJ believed in their statements and the reenactment wasn't necessary, or PJ was trying to get something strange out from that. They wanted to know what were the real intentions of PJ. After a lot of emails were exchanged, through Stuart Prior, the Tapas group remain unconvinced of the utility of such reenactment.

The next answers from the McCann friends put as conditions not only the lifting of the status of "arguidos" of the McCann couple but also a public statement from PJ dispelling the lies churned out by the Portuguese Press and stressing that there were no suspicions over the seven friends.

As the conditions were impossible to be fulfilled, a final request for a decision was made, from Paulo Rebelo, on an email addressed to Stuart Prior, on April 29. Jane and Russel O'Brien were the first to answer, saying yes, but pending further legal advice. Rachel and Matthew send a similar answer, but said they couldn't be in Portugal between 15 and 17 May 2008.

Diana, Fyona and David Payne also accepted, pending legal advice they were looking for, after the PJ detailed explanations. Jeremy Wilkins was willing to participate, if all other witnesses also came to Portugal.

A new date was decided, by the Criminal Court: 29 and 30 May 2008. But then, Gerald McCann asked for a change of this new date, because his lawyer had another court appointment, in Lisbon, on May 29. The request was denied, as it was not possible to made another change, with so many people involved.

On May 10, Rachel and Matthew Oldfield send an email to Stuart Prior, telling him about their final decision: they would not came to Portugal for the reenactment. Russel O'Brien, also on May 10, told Superintendent Prior that, as they knew Jeremy Wilkins, the Oldfield and the Payne families had decided not to go back to Portugal, there was no need of their presence, as the Public prosecutor said that the reenactment couldn't take place if all witnesses were not present.

On May 23, each one the seven McCann friends sent a formal answer to the Public Prosecutor's request for the reenactment, saying they would not attend it, following advice from their lawyers. The reenactment was cancelled by the Criminal Court Judge on May 26, 2008.

Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis

(*) Information taken from the investigation files made available to the journalists